Celebrity fitness trainer Tracy Anderson inspires Steamboat to dance

Anderson inspires Steamboat women in aerobic class

Steamboat Springs  Gyms and fitness centers around town might fill up in the next few weeks with those aiming to fulfill their New Year’s resolutions to get in shape.

But celebrity fitness trainer Tracy Anderson has different advice.

“I have a hard time with fitness resolutions,” she said. “They don’t stick, and people seem to be OK with that.

“Make a different resolution, then make (fitness) your lifestyle change.”

Anderson is on winter vacation with her family in Steam­boat Springs, but that didn’t mean she could skip a workout.

The petite blond woman walked into Elevation Dance Stu­­dio just after 7 a.m. Wednes­day where she was greeted by the 15 Steamboat women who would join her in a two-hour strength and aerobic dance workout.

Anderson, the designer of the Tracy Anderson Method and trainer of celebrities including Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow, asked studio owner Renee Fleischer if she could use the space for her workouts while in town on vacation, and she invited Fleischer to participate in a master class Wednesday.

“What is so cool is that Tracy really wanted to work herself out, too, so it was like being part of her workout and doing the simple steps that she does in order to target those small muscle groups,” Fleischer said.

The class included several local fitness trainers, dancers and members of Fleischer’s family, and most of them were feeling the burn.

“It was challenging for most, and everyone was feeling it the next day,” Fleischer said. “It’s hard to get some of these girls sore from working out.”

Anderson said she enjoyed the morning so much she invited the group back for another workout and attended one of Fleischer’s Zum­­ba fitness classes at the studio.

Anderson said obesity runs in her genes, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at her. She works out six days a week for about two hours, and Wednesday she gave the class a taste of her routine.

An hour of mat work consisted of some of the 3,000 moves she created in her 12 years of research and development of her method, which works small muscle groups with the intent of toning lean muscles.

The strength class was followed by an hour of dance cardio, in which Anderson breezed through several energetic routines to booming hip-hop and electronic beats.

Steamboat Pil­ates Yoga & Fit­ness owner and instructor Wendy Puc­­­­k­­ett said watching An­­der­­­son move with rhythm and fluidity was inspiring to her as a fitness instructor.

“It’s important to do some­­thing different,” Puckett said. “In our town, everybody’s really athletic. We ski, we run, we mountain bike, but to actually put a workout into a dance intention and a rhythmic environment, it’s a different way of movement, and we should really put all different kinds of movement into our bodies.”

For those aiming to get in shape in 2011, Puck­­ett said trying something fun and different, such as aerobic dancing, might be a good jump-start to a fitness routine.

“Even for those of us who couldn’t dance, we couldn’t stop smiling it was so fun,” Puckett said about the Wed­­nesday workout with Anderson.

“Try something different that’s chall­­enging. Pick something that’s fun, like in Renee’s Zum­ba class. You sweat, you dance, you laugh, no one cares. I think it’s a great way to work out.”